A process is known in prior art to be used for the production of radiostrontium [see L. F. Mausner, T. Prach, S. C. Srivastava, J. Appl. Radioat. Isot., 1987, vol. 38, pp. 181-184], this process comprising the bombarding of targets made of rubidium chloride with beams of accelerated charged particles and the radiochemical extraction of radiostrontium therefrom. The limited productivity of this process is due to the low contents of the working body (rubidium) in the material and to the properties of the material to be irradiated: the low heat conductance of RbCl leads to high temperatures inside the target when it is bombarded with an intense beam of particles, inducing radiolysis of RbCl and corrosion of the target shell by nascent chlorine.
Another process is also known to produce radiostrontium [see B. L. Zhuikov, V. M. Kokhanyuk, V. N. Gluschenko, et al., Radiokhimiya, 1994, vol. 36, pp. 494-498; B. L. Zhuikov, V. M. Kokhanyuk, N. A. Konyakin, A. A. Razbash, J. Vincent, Proc. 6th Workshop on Targetry and Target Chemistry, Vancouver, Canada, 1995, TRIUMF, Vancouver, 1996, Ed. by J. M. Liuk, T. J. Ruth, p. 112; D. R. Philips; E. J. Peterson, W. A. Taylor, et al., J. Radiochim. Acta, vol. 88, pp. 149-155], this process comprising the bombarding of a target made of metallic rubidium having a weight of up to 50 g with a beam of accelerated particles and the radiochemical extraction of radiostrontium therefrom by means of dissolution of the metallic rubidium in an alcohol, conversion of the products to an aqueous solution of chlorides, and ion exchange. The high heat conductance of metallic rubidium makes it possible to bombard thick targets with intense beams of particles, rendering this process efficient for producing large amounts of 82Sr (in Ci units). The shortcoming of this process consists in the complexity, length, and hazard of the radiochemical extraction of radiostrontium. In the context of a feasibility of a large-scale radiostrontium production from far bulkier metallic rubidium targets in a broad high-intensity beam, this approach seems even unrealistic.
The most pertinent piece of prior art for the invention consists of the process for producing radiostrontium [see B. L. Zhuikov, V. M. Kokhanyuk, J. Vincent, patent RU 2102808 C1, 1998] comprising the bombarding of metallic rubidium targets with a beam of accelerated charged particles, melting of the irradiated rubidium, and the extraction of radiostrontium therefrom via sorption on the surface of various metals or oxides which are immersed into the molten metallic rubidium. The major drawback of this process consists in that a considerable part of the radiostrontium formed in this way is lost, being sorbed on the walls of the container to which radiated rubidium is transferred and on the inner surface of the target shell, specifically, when high-intensity beams are used for bombarding. For instance, for proton currents on the order of 0.5 to 1 μA, the inner surface of the target shell sorbs 10 to 30% of the resulting radiostrontium; when the current intensity increases, this percentage loss reaches 50 to 70%.